Instead of reaching for pillows and footstools when you dine, settle in with dining tables and chairs that fit the room and body

Whether it's once a year or every night, we want our family and friends to be happy in the dining room with more than just our excellent food and company. Catering equally to tall, small, robust or svelte loved ones is a good goal. If you follow simple ergonomics guidelines when buying your dining table and chairs, your guests will feel comfortable and return again and again.

Ergonomics studies human body measurements relative to the safe use of equipment and furniture. An enormous amount of time and money have gone into designing ergonomically sound office furniture, so productivity isn't compromised, but what about the many hours we spend in the home? Do we think about our families' musculoskeletal welfare when we make that dining room table purchase?

The rectangular dining table. Rectangular tables are the most popular shape for dining. Consider the length of table that your room can comfortably fit. Generally, 36 inches between the edge of the table and each wall or other piece of furniture will allow for chairs to be pulled out with ease.

If you can, leave 48 inches between the table and the entrance into the room. Having an arched entrance like the one in this picture stops the awkward bunching of people at your door when you announce that dinner is served.

Once you know how long your table can be, you can then work out how many can comfortably sit around it. Allow at least 24 inches of elbow room for each guest.

These days, no matter what shape or materials are used, the average dining table measures 29 to 32 inches from the floor to the top of the table.

The upholstered dining chair. The origin of the word "chair" comes from the Latin "cathedra." Seating for bishops and lords in cathedrals was distinguished by an upright structure, while common folk sat on benches or stools.

Once you have chosen your table, you can choose your chairs. Scale is equal to comfort, and the wrong chair will be a cruel, daily reminder of that.

The most comfortable seat height for a dining chair is when there is 10 to 12 inches between the top of the seat and the top of the dining table. If your chair is 18 to 20 inches from the floor to the top of the seat, it will fit well under a standard table.

If you are buying off the showroom floor, a good way to judge the quality of an upholstered chair is to feel under the seat. If it's hollow, it may not be worth your money. Feel for tightly woven webbing, usually made of jute or nylon, as this is the strongest. The coil springs are held together by this webbing. Stretchy, elastic webbing is a cheaper version and won't last as long. A quality hardwood chair frame that has been doweled (small, round wooden pegs, glued and screwed into the timber joints) will last a lifetime.

These fully upholstered dining chairs look incredibly comfortable. The seats are gently molded, and the backs are rounded for lumbar support, ensuring guests will enjoy their stay.

The round dining table. A more intimate space loves a round dining table. If you prefer to entertain small groups of friends and family, or you don't have a dedicated dining room, round could be for you.

Just as with a rectangular or square table, measure your space and apply the same chair measurements. Allow 26 inches per person for elbow room on a three- to six-seater and 24 inches for six or more.

A round table usually has one pedestal leg, offering extra leg room. I like the timber footrest on the bottom of this pedestal, as those seated can raise their feet off the ground and get a little extra support.

General seating guidelines:• Four people will fit around a 36- to 44-inch table• Four to six people will fit around a 44- to 54-inch table • Six to eight people will fit around a 60- to 70-inch table.

The larger your round table is, the harder it will be for all your guests to converse with one another — keep this in mind if you have a large dining room and are tempted to go with a round table.

Generally, the length of time any one person can sit comfortably on a dining chair is three to four hours — less if the chair has no padding. Your chairs may already come with a fixed upholstered seat cushion; if not, having a detachable cushion made is not difficult. The insert should be firm and generous, as this not only will enhance the structure of the cushion but will keep your friends and family from visiting the chiropractor.

Many dining chair backs have a rake, also known as a slope. As on the metal chairs shown here, this slant can be from 5 to 8 degrees from the top. It stops people from sliding off when they get too relaxed.

The most comfortable seat size is around 15 1/2 inches across the back and 18 inches across the front. The seat should be 15 to 18 inches deep. If it is too deep, it will press against the back of the legs and cause slouching.

The square dining table. Not as popular as the rectangular or round dining table, the square dining table has its pros and cons. If your space is small and you plan dinners for only four to six people, it is a lovely intimate design.

This stunning rosewood table is 54 inches square, which is a perfect size for six people. If you need to seat only four people, a table 36 to 44 inches square will suffice.

Everyone's personal taste differs on how the back height of a chair should look in relation to table height. More contemporary tables like this one cope well with a shorter back, while a classic design may require a taller back. For lumbar support, a back height between 12 and 16 inches is ideal.

If the chair has armrests, it needs to support the forearms without shoulders being raised. The height of the rests should be 7 to 9 inches above the seat.

You hit all of the major points, good article! When I'm working with a client I like to add an extra chair or two that will work at the dining room table but also for seating in other parts of the house when entertaining large amounts of people. Dining chairs are also expensive so this helps them justify the costs when they feel they have more than one use. BTW Karen, I love square tables too!

Um, just how does "Having an arched entrance like the one in this picture stops the awkward bunching of people at your door when you announce that dinner is served"? Because they bang their heads on the arch?

Or maybe having a wide entryway is the point and the arch is merely a nice, but irrelevant architectural detail?

We have an awkward space for our dining and only a square or round table would work. We went with this square table and it has worked out perfectly. When it's just the two of us we place the chairs as pictured. But for a party of eight we add in two chairs and each couple can see and converse with every other couple. And it has a leaf to extend it to accommodate a party of 10. Square tables are great!

Table is from a company in Canada called Canadel. Even though it's wood you clean it with water, not wood cleaners or polishers. Very easy maintenance. They have lots of options to choose from.http://www.canadel.com/

Through much of the 90's and early 2000 decades, many builders shrunk the dining room to postage stamp proportions in an effort to boost the size of the kitchen. Don't be afraid to remove the labels from your room plan, because dining rooms are a bit like ovens... you need a roomy one, or you don't need one at all. Feel free to "switcheroo" a living and dining space! The police will not come! I very recently turned a claustrophobic dining space into a "room of her own" for a client, and gave the dining room wonderful space in an unused living room. We added french doors to both, gave the new dining space a lovely fireplace and capacious sideboard. The table is a large sleek english farm table, and is just as suitable for homework and gift wrapping, despite it's glam lighting above. The room is cozy, warm, roomy, easily accommodates a large crowd for a formal setting or an after soccer pizza. My client has her computer/ a.m coffee/run family life space in the old dining room complete with a small sofa, two chairs, writing table... and her kitchen directly behind was cleared of the flotsam devoted to tracking family.. Nobody notices there is no longer a formal "living room", Including my client, who was a very difficult sell on the concept : ) but loves the result.

Jan - So true! I had a separate formal dining room in my previous house, but there was a large opening into the living room, so it seemed even larger than it was. I was sure I wanted separate rooms when I went house hunting, until I saw my current home, which had been remodeled in an open concept by a previous owner. I've arranged the furniture so that a buffet & the sofa act as dividers between the living & dining space, but visually it's a much larger space than if there was even a partial wall between them!

Test drive your dining chairs for at least 45 minutes in the showroom, once you've found the look you want. You can use the time to read contracts, ask the salesperson questions, establish the terms, etc.
In one of my apartment art studios I only had room for a counter height dining table and chairs; no couches for guests! So those chairs had to be upholstered and comfortable for long, slow meals. It is possible.
Some French antique tables have a deep, beautifully carved apron, which makes proper chair height impossible. I don't recommend these tables for actually dining, pretty as they are. They're better for display of smaller antiques.

There's no way that square table will work with all those chairs. You can see that they can't be pulled up any closer to the table because of the chairs on the corners, put people in them and where are their legs supposed to go? I love how it looks tho'.

Watch the weight of those upholstered chairs. Heavy, bulky chairs are awkward to move -- nothing worse than trying to wrestle/wiggle your chair up to the table while seated. Or push it away from the table after a couple of glasses of wine.

The manufacturers of dining sets should take comfort into consideration. I wouldn't want to sit in any of the chairs featured for more than 5 minutes. Then again maybe you want chairs like that so your company doesn't overstay their welcome. Not sure why they make chairs that aren't comfortable tor sit in for prolonged periods of time.

Regarding dining chairs: It isn't just for style that so many seen to be fully upholstered, it's a less expensive manufacturing process as well, costing less to produce, and giving the consumer a feeling of "more". I am not speaking of those highly styled, ala high end furniture makers, but a more basic parsons type chair. Beware those ala Pottery Barn, those you find in a discount store, as they are nothing but foam on a wood board seat/back and will disintegrate pretty quickly into discomfort. For better quality, Designmaster has a million variations, with webbing, springs for guts and are comfortable and will hold up and they offer more options. The french " Louis" knock off chairs you find at Restoration Hardware, with some "wood" exposed ...... order one, sit for a couple hours, then decide if you want six or eight. Cute, stylish, well priced junk, and a very small, short seat for anyone but a child. But if you dine "in the dining room" infrequently, may be fine for you.
Traditionalists for all wood, might find a happy price and comfort medium in Nichols and Stone, or something from Arhaus. If your tastes run to modern, Nuevo has some very well priced, and equally comfy chairs in leather or vinyl with zippy chrome legs and a lot of style.Their "Jack" armchair is super in black or white. PS.. if your groups tend to smaller, know that EVERYONE loves an armchair, and will linger longer at the table in one. In any case, we are thankfully past the boring matched dining set, so consider how often you use the room, how large a group, your style, and go from there. Also check out !st dibs.com. You can turn up the retro, the traditional, and a huge variation in style and price. But unless you are near the seller in location, you won't be able to test drive. But you will get a chair education!
A word on dining table height: 29/30 is best. Don't even think about 32 inches unless your family is a professional basketball team. In any chair, the top of the table and your boobies will be having a conversation.Not kidding.

@frenchdecor - Boy, "plastic seat covers" brings back memories .. and not good ones! Unless someone has a baby or small children, I wouldn't recommend them! One problem I remember, is that the plastic can get brittle & crack, resulting in ripped pantyhose for the guests .. NOT pleasant!!

If you do upholstered chairs, even just the seats, get EXTRA fabric to do at least two of them over at the time of order, if it is critical to your total scheme. A chair seat requires only 3/4 yard in most cases. Three yards on an armless parsons style approximately. Or for smaller children, yank in a hard chair at the last minute. By the time folks go to sit down, nobody is paying ANY attention to the chairs. Same applies for the very elderly as they are more often most comfortable in a less cushy chair, and yes...... stuff will dribble. : ) Failing that, indoor outdoor fabrics are super, so is leather and Ultra Suede. All forgiving..... and then the red wine will be on the rug anyway. Life happens!!

@astraea sorry i guess I wasn't clear, I didn't mean "plastic cover", but plastic chairs or vinyl covered chairs. In short, my daughter is about to buy new furniture and they want contemporary stylish plastic chairs or vinyl covered because their baby (now 2 month) in near future will mess up fabric upholstered chairs in eat-in-dining room (apartment). I remember also my schooling time and a quick glance if there no wet spots left on dark plastic seat. I'm afraid they will spend fortune compromising comfort to easy maintenance and look.

Just wanted to second that 29 or 30" is best for table height. Anything over 30" feels awkward for actual dining. Also, don't forget the option of using two different fabrics on a chair. For stain prevention, consider a textured or faux leather on the seats with a pretty fabric, maybe less stain resistant, on the inside back and outside back of the chair. This will allow for easy clean up of spills where they usually happen, on the seat, while allowing for a nice design statement on the back and inside back of the chair. Great article!

I learned 3 years ago, that it's not just table height that matters, but the difference in the height between the table top & chair seats! I bought chairs separately from my table, because the chairs that came with the set weren't available with casters. Imagine my frustration, when the table felt a little "high", when sitting on the chairs I got! I'm not sure what simple solution there is, other than a seat cushion in a matching fabric, to add to the chair height.

astrea,
You probably very unwittingly purchased chairs specifically designed for a game table which is usually 28 inches high, and often a chair with a game table is lower and employs casters. Yes! Add a two inch high density foam loose cushion/w wrap to the seats!

Shame on the store - which is called "Dinettes Unlimitted" - for not making that distinction very clear to me!! Interestingly, years ago I bought an additional 4 chairs on casters that were for a game table that matched my dining room set .. and those chairs' seat was the same height as the dining room chairs .. so I never thought twice that there would be a difference this time!

I bought a big gorgeous wooden table from Crate and Barrel. Then(I thought very cleverly) juxtaposed it against gorgeous orange and chrome Kartell chairs. Looks fabulous, but yes you feel a little bit like a 10 year old sitting there. If I put them with my Saarinen table, it's no problem. Lesson learned!

@sigrid: i think the arch detail "stopping the awkward bunching of people at the door" is probably a psychological effect. by opening up the view into the space, you are more comfortable entering in without pausing at the door. i love when a seemingly superfluous element actually turns out to support a deeper need.

As for kids in chairs....I have 3 girls & I bought 3 faux leather chairs from Home Goods for our table to make my life oh so much easier!! I don't care what kind of fabric you have, you will always be cleaning it with kids. I want to wipe & disinfect quickly. Spilled milk is not fun with fabric.

@aheatherington
The rule of thumb on light size is approximately 60% of table diameter. That means on a 60 inch table you can go as large in diameter as a 36 inch light. Do note!! that a shaded, hanging pendant type will have much more visual mass due to the shade. Not so say you can't do something intentionally overscale, just know they read larger in general. The more open and airy.. ... the less bulky they read.

Re: Fully upholstered chairs (seat and entire back) can be difficult to keep clean because people have to grab onto the upholstering every time they get in and out. If hands are dirty (oily or with food) the fabric will get soiled very quickly.

I have a very small dinning room and am thinking of using a settee pushed to the wall ((since it is stationary, it should save some space). I am trying to figure out how much space to leave between the edge of the table and the edge of a settee (in other words, what would be a comfortable space for people to squeeze in into the space, yet comfortable enough to reach the plate:)...) Thanks a lot!

This is a beautiful ideabook, Gabrielle - thank you for creating it. It inspired us to post examples of all three dining table shapes you discuss - round, rectangular, and square - and throw in one more, octagonal, for good measure:

I've got a dining room open to my living room and both have been anchored with coordinating rugs on my blonde wood floor. I'm thinking about removing the rug in the dining room because it gets caught under the chair legs, people trip over the edge and maybe with it gone the space will feel more open and less formal. Any suggestions to keep or not to keep the rug in the dining room? What are the design pros and cons of having a rug under the table?

NIce article--very informative and practical. Couple of thoughts....every image here has a chandelier. I often suggest not having a chandelier-- for a variety of reasons. Also, one of the additional elements I like to consider is how the chairs can be rotated around the dining table, or dining room, when adding seating for a larger group --and how it will look.

Hi Karen-Every dining room, its light orientation, and overall function of that room play a role in this decision. It isn't a 'given' that you must have a single suspended light source. Please take a look at my website for an array of projects both with and without chandeliers over eating areas. My two most recent projects do not have them. Those 2 projects will be photographed sometime soon and added to my portfolio.

Sometimes we have to live with the shape of the dining room and the table we have, especially if you treasure and have fond memories of an antique or family heirloom. The good advice given in this article still applies. It pays to think things through though and make a floor plan. The large buffet would be better back into the room as in the first floor plan below, but the best place for a comfortable and functioning dining room was at the front of the room, the second floor plan. Here it could be accessed easily from the kitchen, the dining table, and the other main rooms for less formal buffet serving. Plenty of space to get around the table is always nice, even if a chair or two has someone in it.

I love that comment, Paula, about no chandelier necessary in dining room. We have such a dilemma with our dining room that I am thinking we will be better served with a large arching floor lamp and perhaps a table lamp to the side on a buffet or sideboard and a few candles on the table. Every situation is so unique that one can't always follow the rules! The photos on your website are lovely.

I like the idea of not having a chandelier - I feel it limits my options on furniture placement. Right now I am using our little area (that suppose to be an dining area) as a sitting room/library. I wish I knew what to do with the lights. I now use my living room (much larger) as my dining area. For Thanksgiving we added a table to the sitting room - as we have 20 people & 10 kids coming for dinner. Yikes! lol

It definitely has to be said that the dining room is such a personal part of your house. The trends in housing are moving away from a formal dining room, but this isn't a one-size-fits-all solution. The occupants need to ask themselves what they want in the room. Are you looking for somewhere to eat every night, or just for special occasions? Is this a space that you would like to have other functions, as well as eating? Is this a space that needs its own room for you, or are you okay with the overlap of spaces (for example, an eat-in kitchen, or an open plan living/dining)? Keeping these issues in mind really helps clarify how you see the space being utilized, and that has great impact on the furniture and cabinetry, etc. Too many times, people have an unused dining room, and then are finding themselves lacking space elsewhere in the house.

Our house was built in the 1920 so we have a separate, formal dining room. At first I thought we wouldn't use it often enough to make it worthwhile, but as it turns out we use it all the time! It is the prettiest room in the house and has set the color and traditional decorating them of the house. I guess it all depends on how you live. We often have neighbors over for coffee and dessert, add in a fancy dessert wine or liqueur and you have an instant special occasion. Do what makes you happy, feels comfortable and makes your friends and guests feel welcome.

I enjoyed your article especially about having the right size chairs just recently I had to buy all new chairs for my ding room table that is about 50 plus years old. the best thing about this table is, it's a pedestal table that is oblong and when fully extended can sit up to 14 people comfortably. it is very rare to find an oblong table of this kind. I noticed the only table with a pedestal leg was the round table which in my opinion would only fit in a particular style and size room which would not be a formal dining room.

I like to use close to the minimal space of 24" per guest for my dinner parties, placing the two biggest people at the ends- lets me fit 12 people at my table and being in close proximity to good friends keeps the dinner lively and people lingering at the table. Like a cocktail party that is just crowded enough...